


More

by MinaAffairs



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Body Horror, Dark, F/M, Hive Mind, Infected First Ones Disk, Infected Hordak, Mental Link, Mutation, Revenge, Violence, horror romance, villains in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-01-27 00:54:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21383404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinaAffairs/pseuds/MinaAffairs
Summary: Without Entrapta's notes, her recordings, Hordak was forced to reverse engineer his armor on his own. The integration of a weapon system requires certain components. Components Hordak himself does not quite understand the repercussions of using. He will though. He will become More.Infected Hordak AU. A tad on the darker side for what I usually post here.
Relationships: Entrapta & Hordak (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 162





	1. Infection

**Author's Note:**

> Setting things up here, we go through the final arc of Season 4.

Once he had figured out the final piece of the puzzle the integration of a heavy weapons system into the armor Entrapta had made went quickly. In fact it took only a day after the final theoretical hurdles were overcome.

One of the key components Hordak had needed was some first ones tech to integrate into the new addition to help regulate the power flow. Luckily there were some damaged pieces left over from Entrapta's own research that he could use. They were not the most pristine pieces, damaged shards of a once larger device but that was no problem for this use case.

The weapon was made, a sleek and powerful cannon to feed off of the armor. The moment he attached it to his armor he felt it. The power.

And he felt more.

He felt pain. The familiar but almost long forgotten feeling of something touching his mind mingles with it. Hordak howls in pain and violation as he falls forward. The feeling of writhing flesh pressing against him under the cannon, under his armor, is apparent. As if something in it is suddenly alive and spreading.

As the crystal on his chest turns red Hordak overcomes the initial surge. He overcomes the initial worry. In fact it fades away into nothing more than an itch in the back of his mind. There is much more to think about than such minor details.

He feels powerful.

The warlord stands back up, looking at his arm, a grin spreading over him. A laugh escaping him.

He feels... More.

Hordak takes a deep breath, grinning to himself as he feels it flow through him. The energy shunting from the armor into the cannon. He raises it, unleashing a test shot into the wall. Smirking at the smoldering hole. 

The Plan will go flawlessly with this. Even if the shapeshifter fails and the Princesses come they cannot hope to stand against this raw power. As Hordak exits his sanctum he almost finds himself hoping the shapeshifter does fail.

The shapeshifter succeeds though, the princesses do not come. Hordak's power is barely even challenged. This acceptable as well.

…

The destruction of Salineas is... Beautiful.

So very beautiful.

Hordak finds himself simply watching the city burn with a smile on his face. The smell of burnt buildings, of burnt flesh, it's wonderful. 

Something is missing though. As if destruction isn't quite enough, or perhaps just this destruction? There is a primal need itching at his mind. The need for more. To devour and consume. It is something he has not felt before. It is something new. Perhaps it is simply the craving to continue the fight. 

"You will return to the Fright Zone." He interrupts whatever Catra was trying to say. "I will remain in the field. I will end this war. Prime is coming, and I do still want to face Entrapta in battle." He grins down at his partner in crime.

She looks up at him almost concerned, confused. Why? Is this not what she wanted from him? To stop being a shut in? To take to the field?

Silly cat.

"Yes Lord Hordak." Catra finally says after staring at him for a moment.

He nods and turns back toward the destruction before them, then he raises the cannon and sweeps a beam of energy across some of the fleeing salineans that he can see in the distance. 

Hordak finds himself laughing as Catra slinks away. It is only the beginning of a new campaign, of months of sweeping across Etheria and reveling in the destruction. 

Hours turn to days, days to weeks, weeks to months. Contact is kept with Catra, regular reports back and forth to keep things running. She does her job in a most satisfactory manner, yet it doesn't quite matter. Only the action, only the weapon, only the victory.

He can feel it. With each use he can feel it writhe. Feel it grow just a little. He can feel the itch in his mind. It flares. It scratches. It starts to feel good. As if a trusted hand is scratching his scalp. It reminds him of her. Of Entrapta. Yet it does not anger him. He has this now. He has more than her.

Eventually the war effort begins to slow. The occupations thin available troops. Even if Hordak himself can cut across Etheria like a hot blade he cannot single handedly perform the logistical duties of his empire. No. The conquest must be pauses. New bots must be constructed. Machines that will bolster their forces and allow the continuation of the campaign. 

So Hordak returns to the core of his Empire. He basks in the machinery, in the industry. Yet it doesn't feel quite right. Too much metal. Too many hard angles even in a place without many. It is too inorganic. The thought tickles at him, itches at him, that he should begin researching the techo-organic constructs of the First Ones.

It is while Hordak is returning, entering the Fright Zone in order to maintenance himself and his build his machines, that he feels it. He feels some other connections in the back of his mind. Like the itch but different. Far away. Names. Feelings. People.  
Bow. Micah. Adora...  
Also a horse?

Sadness, despair.

He clutches his head, groaning. Where... Why... How is this happening? What is this? It almost feels like they're touching his mind. Or they're touching something that is touching his mind. Hordak tries to reach out, to attack the Intruders. Then they're gone.

Hordak growls. He rubs his head, and he pushes the feeling of his arm writhing under the frame of the cannon aside. Its been getting worse, or perhaps better, he can't even remove the thing anymore. He does not need to though. The weapon is always of use.

Hordak regains his composure, and he notices troops moving, heading out of the Fright Zone. Catra. He must speak to her, determine what she is doing. He revels in the idea of more combat. Yet he knows the Horde cannot sustain further pushes. 

Hordak rolls his shoulder, feeling the muscle move strangely beneath his armor. The itch telling him to work on the weapon and the armor. Later. Maintenance will need to happen later. The itch doesn't control him. It is only part of him.

...

It is only after Hordak speaks with Catra and is working on the cannon and his armor that he suddenly feels it. He feels her. Entrapta. She's sad, she's empty. She thinks no one cares about her. Hordak begins to hyperventilate. Clutching at himself again. The tech, it wants to consume her. It wants to make her be with it.

He wants that too, but She's with the Princesses. Adora, Bow, the Horse. Whatever is happening... They keep pulling her away, they keep stopping her from becoming part of it. They keep stopping her from joining him. He hates it. Again and again for grows close in the periphery of his mind only to be snatched away.

Then it stops. Suddenly. Entrapta is gone again. Hordak is alone again. No. Not alone. Hordak has himself, all of him. 

When the shapeshifter started talking Hordak was annoyed. The scratching in his mind was growing incessant and now this thing was trying to talk with him in his own sanctum. Without his permission. 

Then Entrapta was mentioned. Then it was mentioned she wasn't in Bright Moon. Then it all started to fit together. Catra had lied. Entrapta never betrayed them. Entrapta had been sent to beast island.

To her death.

But no. Not her death.

Hordak had felt her, he had felt her being consumed for a moment. He had felt Beast Island. The machines. The first ones tech. She had been there, and she had been alive. She-Ra and her companions were there as well. Rescuing her just as the shapeshifter said.

The moment they are gone Hordak's breath quickens. Energy channels through the cannon. In rage he tears his sanctum apart. The infected flesh beneath it pulsates, traveling through his armor now. The crystal on his chest begins to develop spidering veins. He is hurt and rage.

But he does not cry.

Entrapta is alive. He will take his revenge and then he will find her. She will join him. They will be together. They will be as one.

So Hordak summons Catra to his sanctum. To tell her what he knows.

...

"DO YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN FOREVER FORCE CAPTAIN?!" Hordak shouts out into the halls of the Fright Zone as he tears them apart. Lance's of energy ripping through the empire he has constructed. It is meaningless now. A hive of twisted metal filled with nothing but weakness. He will burn it down and make it better. 

"Your days were numbered the moment you crossed me!" He adds, and he laughs. Catra's punishments form perfectly in his mind. She will not die. No. He will take her. He will break her open and remake her. As he has been remade.

She shouts something back. Some insult. He does not care. Her screeching noise will cease soon, and forever.

"You cannot stop the inevitable Catra!" He calls out as he scans the foundry she has run to for her.

"Hah! You think you can kill me Hordak?! You're nothing! A defect! A mistake! Can't you see?! I'm running things here!!"

Hordak roars. "I am more!" And fires, sweeping across the heavy bucket arm above.  
Catra leaps down at him.

Her attack is unexpected. He swings the cannon to fire on her, but is slightly too slow in his reaction times. She shoves it aside. She punches him. As Hordak stumbles at the hit she brings a foot down on the cannon.

It shatters.

But it doesn't. As it falls the red flesh inside tenses and holds onto the pieces. Breaking out and twisting unaturally. At the same time as Hordak watches this Catra tries to pull out the crystal on his chest.

She fails. The veins and roots of the infection hold it in place. Without thinking Hordak's weaponized arm is raised. The cannon shattered and reformed into new talons of red writhing flesh and metal. Of emitter hardware and alien muscle. 

He grasps the cat and slams her into the ground. Growling. "YOU ARE NOTHING CATRA!" 

She screeches and kicks up at him! Sending him stumbling back. "NO! YOU ARE! LOOK AT YOU! YOU'RE NOT EVEN A PERSON ANYMORE!" 

Hordak roars again, steadying himself and flexing his new talons. Shifting his flesh to bring the energy emitters of the cannon to bare again. "Die!" He hisses.

Then the foundry structure falls onto him.

…

No Etherian creature could survive the crushing weight of the machinery that collapsed upon Hordak. It is questionable if even one of Prime's other clones could. Hordak is not of Etheria though, and he is not like any other clone.

Hordak is more.

He is his myriad self now. 

He can feel it happen. The flesh of the infection moving through his armor, into his wounds. Melding with every piece of him. Making him healthy again. Making him strong again. The pain is meaningless. The pain is growth.

He can hear others. Talking. Two voices. Catra and another, it sounds familiar somehow. Distantly so. It forces him to turn his head. The pain in doing so is immense but it lets him see what is happening. 

Catra and their enemy. Queen Glimmer. There's seems to be a strong energies emanating from her. She looks to be in pain in fact.

Good.

Hordak's mind fills with thoughts of crushing the both of them, of using them for raw material for rebuilding the Fright Zone. Of taking their selves and making them part of something more. 

As the Queen gets up to stumble away he sees Catra follow. Rage fills him. 

Hordak pushes up, lifting himself up out of the rubble. He feels strong. Even as he hears his body creak and break beneath his armor.

He stumbles forward. Unsteady on his feet. His body feels different. Changed. He looks down at himself as he walks. Red veins spider down along his legs. Beyond that he looks mostly the same...

Save his right arm. With the shell of the cannon cracked and shattered the twisting red infection flesh within is free. Holding the pieces in place to retain a functional weapon even as the excess forms itself into large talons of flesh and metal. 

A fine upgrade to his weapon. To him.

The itching in his mind has grown louder. Wanting him to kill, to consume. He will feed it soon.

The Black Garnet chamber is where he finds the Queen. Collapsed and broken already. 

Hordak laughs. "Found you." His voice comes out perhaps too pleased as he raises his talons to cut her down. 

Then an explosive device of some kind hits him. There is yelling. Some newcomer. The boy, Bow, the one he felt on beast island.

Hordak's eyes snap up. He was with Entrapta. 

"Where is she?!" He howls out just as the world turns green and he begins to be lifted. Prime.

"No!" Hordak howls. "No! Where is Entrapta!? You will not take me yet!" 

And then he is overcome. He is teleported away from this place. Away from the archer who knows where his Entrapta is.

it's so wrong here. 

"Is that you? Little brother?" The voice is cold and calm. It is Prime's, Hordak knows it so well. Yet is sounds so distant and wrong now. That itching at the back of Hordak's mind makes him know.

That voice is not his home. Etheria is home. The tech is home.

"I thought you were dead. My you almost look it. What has happened to your body?" 

Hordak picks himself up. Staring up at his brother. "I was trapped in a shadow dimension. On that world. My work is not done Brother." He must find Entrapta. He must take her home. 

Prime regards him for a moment. "I received your transmission, but I could not determine it's source-" prime rambles for a moment.

Rambles.

Once Hordak would hang on every word. Now he sees the truth. His brother rambles. About energy sources and other details that are not important. Hordak needs to bring everyone home. 

He realizes his brother is waiting for a response. "I have bent this works to my will." He growls out.

Prime stands now "Your will?" 

Hordak realizes his mistake. Was it a mistake though? It is his will. It is all his will. He is all of the itching voices.

"Why can I not read your thoughts?" The question is curious. In a way almost dismissive.

Then the hands wrap around Hordak's face

It is terrible. It is invasive. If Hordak was just him he would not be able to face it. If Hordak was not More he would succumb. This probing intruding mind. Worming into his very essence. 

Hordak is more though. He is all Hordak. The itch pushes back, it protects him. It wraps him in itself and gives the probing mind a million answers.

Prime scowls and retracts his hands. "What have you become!?" 

Hordak finds himself surprised at the outburst. It is unlike the brother he remembers. 

Then the hand returns, clutching his face, his throat. Lifting him up. "I made you in my image! And look what you have done with it! You have become an abomination."

The itch grows stronger. Hordak's talons twitch. He needs to kill his brother.

Then Prime finishes his thought. "So you must be reborn!" 

The mechanical tendrils disguised as hair pull back from Prime's body and launch themselves at Hordak.

The tendrils tear off the cables on Hordak's back, and one forces its way into him. He screams in pain. Such bottomless pain. Both physical and mental.

The reset command is sent. The pulse that will wipe away his mind. That will make him less again. Hordak feels his mind begin to fade away. He hears himself stop screaming. His body go limp. His eyes turn green.

But he isn't gone. 

Hordak is more. Hordak is many, he is every him. When one brain is subverted the others must take control. 

The crystal on his collar sends out a violent pulse through the armor. Into Prime's invading tendril. The creature growls and retracts in surprise. Dropping Hordak. 

The moment they are disconnected a second pulse is sent through. This time to Hordak's brain. Writing him back. Waking him up 

His eyes return to red. 

Hordak picks himself up. He hears Prime speak. "Destroy him!" 

The other clones move. The defect growls.

and Hordak reacts without thinking. No. He reacts without all of him having to think. His right arm swings up, energy building in the emitter and firing a short pulse. It slices through the first of Prime's attendants, vaporizing most of them. He can hear the girl, the queen, gasp in shock as she watches this. She will have to come after these ones.

The second attendant is suddenly upon him. When the many are one the problem of reaction times is reduced. His left arm reaches out, grabbing his siblings throat and squeezing.

He brings his talons down. The red techo-organic flesh piercing into the clones back. Hordak touches his siblings mind. Briefly exploring it. Seeing it is fit for him. To be him alongside him. 

Not now though. There is not time. The others will do.

The cannon fires again, and Hordak drops the clones upper torso.

He turns to prime now. Smiling.

"Your control dies here brother, and with it your small infantile mind." He raises the emitter once more, ready to destroy prime. "No more harmonious order. Only my Dissonance."

He fired too late. The transport array is activated and the sudden lack of gravity knocks his aim off. 

In a flash Hordak is gone from the bridge. As he drops to his feet in the ruins of the Fright Zone he scowls. All of him scowls. A setback.

But now he can find Entrapta.


	2. Understand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak and Entrapta are reunited.

The Fright Zone is a broken mess of twisted metal and shattered dreams now. The people that lived here, that grew here, that hoped here, are gone. Hordak burned it down as he chased Catra, and the people were sent forth to fight at Bright Moon. A lost battle no doubt. It is of no consequence. They would never understand what is happening, what must happen. Only one could, only Entrapta.

Hordak glances up into the sky for a moment, at the infinite fleet of Horde Prime. His brother, his enemy. Entrapta, find Entrapta. The desire echoes across Hordak's many selves. She's alive. She's not on beast island. She can help him.

She had been with the boy and She-Ra on beast island, and he saw the boy here. Entrapta is here. She must be here, or at least somewhere near. Would she have let the boy come to the Fright Zone alone? No. No that would not make sense. So Hordak begins to search. 

First he leaps and climbs along where the arrow boy had come from, noting how simply his new talons sink into the metal of the Fright Zone. Though he was always strong enough to tear metal and cut through it but now? It's like warm butter. From there he wanders near aimlessly, every moment becoming more sure she must be somewhere else, even though he was so sure she was here not long ago. Bright Moon perhaps? If she is there it will be difficult to get to her. The rebels will intervene. He will have to cut them down. No time to use them.

The itching in Hordak's mind grows frustrated. Loud. All of him does.

Then he hears her voice. "Hordak?" It's soft, questioning, and unmistakably hers. 

He turns quickly towards the source, to find her looking down on him from a structure above. The infected mass that is his right arm twitches.

"Entrapta."

Hordak finds himself letting his guard down as he says her name, as he looks up at her. For a moment he catches conflicting emotions on her face. Then she pulls her mask down. It's different now, new. First Ones Tech? It seems to be. "Entrapta." He repeats, raising his left hand out to her. 

"What happened to you?" She asks as she climbs down toward him. "the armor is... Virus infected like She-Ra? I didn't think that was possible!" She approaches him. "Fascinating..."

"I am..." Hordak's buzzing mind debates the words for a moment "more... I enhanced your design." 

Entrapta doesn't reply this time, holding herself up right before him. His hand shifts, wanting to touch her, to lift her mask and caress her cheek. How he missed her. 

Then she leans away from his touch.

Hordak growls. The hungering mind that makes up part of him grows angry as the rest grows distraught. "Let me feel you." He hisses.

Again she doesn't immediately respond. Instead leaning in loser. Her mask still down. Gloved fingers reach out to touch the crystal on his collar. To trace the red fleshy veins eminating from it and burrowing into the armor and into him.

"I'm sorry." She finally says. "I have to study you." 

Before Hordak can reply the stun baton is plunged into the crystal. Sending cascading energy through him. Then a second, a third. 

With his guard down she overwhelms him, all of him, every him. 

The world falls to black, but Hordak does not.

Hordak is awake. His body is limp and his senses empty but he is awake within himself. Thinking and feeling while his body recovers from the shocks which have disrupted his bodies nervous system and his augmentations circuitry. 

Entrapta betrayed him. No that's not quite right. He can think about it now, he can have consensus with all of his self. She just doesn't understand. She needs to study him, she said it herself. She needs to understand. This is how Entrapta tries to understand on her own. He will help make her understand as soon as he can.

Slowly his senses finally begin to return, to come and go. As they do he hears them. Voices. He hears hers too. 

"Secured in... need to study... Fused with... Fascinating!" She's justifying things to someone. A female voice. The girl, Adora. 

"Hordak!... Monster!... Infected disk!..." Adora calls out these words aggressively. Trying to talk Entrapta down. They make it through Hordak's sensory haze and give him an idea of the situation he faces.

It's hard to track how much time passes. He catches glimpses of blurred movement. The shapes of his surroundings. He's somewhere new now. It is so hard to focus, to determine any details.

Finally things start to click in place, his senses begin to clear fully. He can feel his limbs, he can flex them. He's bound. As he blinks and looks up he registers Entrapta's voice again.

"-attempts to remove the infected material from Hordak have proved both dangerous and unsuccessful. The mass seems to have grown into him using the tech in his body as a point of entry! Quite fascinating! Oh! Movement!" 

She approaches him, leaning in. "Hi Hordak! Are you awake?! It's been awhile! Adora and Bow told me to keep you unconscious but they're on a mission now and I've decided that you'd be a great lab assistant for studying you! Since you probably know you pretty well!" 

Hordak blinks away the fuzziness in his vision and stares at her for a moment. "Entrapta..." He speaks quietly. "Let me go." 

"Sorry! Can't do that! You're an 'Active Biohazard!' as the saying goes."

"That's not... That's not a saying." He notes back. Even in his twisted mental state Entrapta's behavior manages to cut through to his core.

"Oh!... Well it is now!" 

Hordak both sighs and growls, then tugs at his restraints in response, turning his head to look at his right arm. It's changed further. Entrapta's removed some of the cannon components, though not all of them. The talons are smaller, more in line with his old proportions to an extent. Some of the hardware remains though, enough of the hardware. His weapon is intact. Entrapta has bound it all and put what Hordak assumes is hardware for some come of inhibitor on the arm however. It might be possible to break free, but dangerous.

"Fascinating isn't it?" Entrapta notes as she moves over to look at his arm with him. "You used the broken first ones disk in the construction of your weapon! That was really brilliant actually! Inspired!" She grins at him "and it taps into the armor to draw its power and integrate directly with the actuators! It's really cool!" 

She grins at him, wide, for a moment. Then she blinks and looks back at the arm. "But it had the virus in it, and it looks like it consumed the tech in the weapon and then... Your arm, the armor. How much of your original arm is even in there anymore? Oh don't tell me though! A lot of it probably got used as material for the new parts right? So neat!" 

Hordak growls again.

"Sorry!" She looks back at him, then her expression falters and she looks sad for a moment. "Scorpia told me... That you weren't aware of what happened..." She moves back over to be in front of him. "We could have avoided this if I had come back and told you about the disk..."

Now it's Hordak's turn to soften. All of him does. He relaxes in his restraints and sighs. The scratching in his head even lessens. "No. It is better we did not avoid this. I am... Better for it." He nods.

Entrapta blinks and looks up. "That's because the virus wants to protect itself so it's telling you that it's better!" She counters chipperly. Somehow smiling as she thinks about the technicalities of what Hordak had become.

"It is better. I am better." He states, strong and confident in that. "The pain is gone, and I have seen through my brothers lies, and now I have found you again as well." He adds on.

Entrapta suddenly turns away, the mask coming down. "Well! It is true that Horde Prime doesn't seem to be the nicest person! And if your pain is gone that's good too... We'll need to run tests though!" She moves over to the consoles she has set up around the room.

The room. Hordak's barely paid attention to it. His focus has been entirely on her. The room though. It's metal and stone. Rock on one side in fact. The equipment in here seems to have been set up recently, salvaged Horde technology and Entrapta's own as well.

"Where are we?" He finally asks.

"Hmm?" Entrapta turns around. "Oh!" And the mask comes back up to reveal a smile "that's right you've never been! Welcome to Dryl! Or the mines anyway! We're hiding!"

"Why are we here?" Hordak asks, looking around the room they're in more. Equipment has been set up hastily that much is clear, and because of that observation it also becomes clear that his own bindings must have been a rushed creation. That leaves room for weakness he need only find.

"Oh, well. The mines of Dryl are a great place to hide! From Horde prime!" Entrapta notes as she moves back over to one of her terminals. The name makes Hordak's entire self itch and tense. His arm writhes and his minds grind against itself. Hatred fills him more than it could fill any other. He hates his brother for what has been done. He hates his brother.

"Prime could level these mountains if he wished." Hordak growls out.

"That's the thing! He doesn't want to! At least as far as I've discerned! He seems to be being very particular about things! I think he wants the heart. That makes sense. He has Princess Glimmer and Glimmer knew about the Heart of Etheria so he probably knows about the Heart and WANTS IT!" Entrapta begins to cackle. "Can you blame him?! All that tech! All that power!" 

"He will not have it." Hordak replies. Then after a moment of internal debate adds on "What is this heart?" 

"It's a SUPER WEAPON! and that's what Adora said too, that he can't have it, but it's looking like he probably will! We can't exactly stand up to spaceships! Can we?" She turns to look at him when 

"You just admitted we have access to a super weapon." Hordak growls once more. His selfs all feeling a tad exasperated.

"Yeah but we don't have the trigger! Adora broke the sword!" 

"Naturally." Hordak looks at nothing after. "We need a new one. We need to kill Prime."

Entrapta momentarily freezes. "You don't want to join him then?..."

"No. I have... Learned better than to pledge myself to Prime." He is better than Prime. He is more than Prime. His brother is nothing more than a flailing attempt at silent unchanging order. Hordak has grown beyond that.

Entrapta seems to regard Hordak for a moment, she looks unsure of herself. Then she speaks "The virus is making you say that because it sees Prime as a threat. There's no telling how you'll feel once I've cured you."

The anger is immediate and makes Hordak writhe in his bonds. He tries to pump energy into the cannon melded into his right arm only to find the energy dampened by whatever rigging Entrapta has conceived. Clever of her. "I do not need to be cured! I will never see my Brother as anything more than the rambling silent beast that he is! I have been made better! I have been made whole!" 

"That's the virus making you think that!" She shoots back! "You're not even Hordak anymore! Not really!"

"I am more myself than you can even conceive Entrapta! If this virus wishes to make me protect it then all it has needed to do is show me the truth!" He shouts louder, dominating the room. 

"I'm putting you back to sleep now Hordak." Entrapta says, shivering, tears beginning to well in her eyes. "I shouldn't have woken you up I'm sorry..."

"I was already awake Entrapta. You cannot put down all of me! I am always awake!" He can feel the bonds straining as he pulls against them. So close.

Then Entrapta closes her eyes, hitting a switch and sending a surge through Hordak. Again his body is disrupted, his senses go dark.

Again the darkness is met with partial consciousness. A form of locked in syndrome that Hordak cannot seem to break out of. He knows his body is there. He can even feel some of it and almost try to move but there's something wrong. Something stopping him. He has not just been stunned, Entrapta has done something more to keep his body unconscious. His senses are even more dulled than the last time.

It takes an almost embarrassingly long time to figure it out. The armor. She's disrupting him through the armor she designed. It integrates into his cybernetics, and thus into him directly. She has knowledge of the armor beyond anyone else. Knowledge of him.

Such things are difficult to fight against, but now that he knows he can take steps to counter her. At least next time he is allowed to rejoin the conscious world he can begin to take steps.

Until then only thoughts of how to patch this weakness fill his minds. Utilization of his new flesh makes the most sense. Modify the armor from within, make it impenetrable even to the person who made it by making it different enough from what she made.

Dealing with the electricity from the stun baton also poses a unique challenge but one he will overcome. Perhaps he can simply reinforce himself enough to endure it somehow.

It hurts though, it hurts that Entrapta does not trust him. She of all people should be able to see the glory of what he is, of what all of this is. She should be able to see the wonder of his evolution. Yet she is scared of it, just like the others appear to be. 

She must be shown the truth of this. Even if she doesn't want to see it. She will understand.

It's a surprise when the voices of others can be heard again, when feeling returns and vision comes to him. So soon? Interesting. There is talking going on, someone is arguing with Entrapta.

Hordak's eyes snap open, his ears twitch, and he quickly absorbs the situation before him. Entrapta is backed up against her primary terminal in this makeshift lab, he catches her hair retracting from the keyboard. She woke him, and apparently executed the command without looking. The why is clear, she's being yelled at by a princess with a trident. The water one.

Entrapta's mask is down. She is scared. Hordak can almost smell it in the air.

"Give him to me now Entrapta." The Princess of seas or whatever she is speaks. "He needs to pay for what he did to Salineas."

"I need to study him! We can learn so much from his infection! Plus he's a clone of Prime we can learn from that too!" 

"We've all seen that there are other clones Entrapta! Get another one! Hordak needs to pay!" The Trident is pushed forward, threatening Entrapta further. 

Hordak glances away from this, there are more here. An Etherian man with a mustache, The traitor Adora, the arrow boy. They're all standing back looking unsure of how to react to this.

Hordak's eyes move back to Entrapta. She momentarily glances at him and he can feel their eyes meet even through her mask. She has to know. Entrapta must know that he will protect her. She understands that much at least. She woke him up. Hope wells inside of Hordak again.

Entrapta looks back to Mermista. "I'm not going to give him to you. He is my friend and I'm going to cure him."

Despite her insistence on curing him of his blessing Hordak cannot help but grin at Entrapta's declaration. She does understand, even if only a little. Mermista however does not take this as well. "Your FRIEND?! Are you all hearing this?!" She looks back at the others.

There are murmurs, and Adora seems to be about to step forward and try to defuse the situation when she finally glances at Hordak and sees him watching her.

So instead Adora freezes as she was raising her hands up. "He's awake."

Then all eyes are on him, save Entrapta. She appears to take the moment to glance at her terminal.

Mermistas fingers squeeze her Trident, she's trembling. Rage. Hordak can see it so clear. Such rage at him. For what? Burning her kingdom? Her pathetically unprotected territory? Where had she even been?

He can't help but smirk at her. It feels so good, it feels so hilarious, that this woman is reacting this way. She is weak and alone. Not like him, he is all of him, and he is many, and together he knows that this...

This is painfully amusing.

"You left your people with only a wall to protect them. All I did was fight a war." Hordak growls out. 

The play is clear. He has consensus with his self. Provoke her. Make her come for him. Make Entrapta free him so he can protect himself. He catches her fingers hovering over the terminal.

"I'm going to make you pay for what you've done." Mermista hisses out.

"Mermista don't." Adora finally speaks again. "Don't do anything rash."

"Anything rash Adora? I'm not. I've been thinking about this since my kingdom was burned to the ground."

"Inaccurate. It was pummeled with heavy munitions." Hordak interjects.

When the princess stabs her spear forward Hordak tries to react, only to find himself still bound. It's almost surprising, he really thought Entrapta would release him if this princess attacked. Somewhat disconcerting. Briefly he wonders if he can survive being impaled. Consensus is yes, probably. It depends on where.

Instead of being impaled though Entrapta's hair surges out and grabs the Trident, pulling it and forcing it away from its intended destination. It barely misses him 

The arrow boy has drawn his bow, the mustached man a sword. Entrapta's fingers float above the return key of her console.

"Hordak." Entrapta speaks before Mermista can.

"Yes, Entrapta?"

"Give them something. That they can use. Show them." She speaks slowly. Always clever. She has thought of her own way for this to play.

A choice.

Refuse to aid them, and hope Entrapta will release him in self defense.

Or do as Entrapta wishes, and follow what she desires.

He wants her to trust him. He needs her to.   
He needs her.

"I was Horde Prime's top general. I saw all he did even if I was blind. I know my brother. If you intend to fight him then you cannot afford to not have me." Hordak speaks calmly, concisely.

"We can capture another clone." Mermista shoots back 

"But not one that is free. You will find only slaves with limited minds and truncated knowledge. I am unique. I am worth more than you realize." He adds on. The words come from deep in his self. They well up. The scratching alien mind that is now part of him makes him confident enough to say it to this princess with such calm.

He knows it now. 

It gives the assembled room pause. Then Entrapta speaks. "He's also a brilliant engineer. He can help me make weapons to fight prime, much better than I could do alone." She says. "If I have him here then we can use his mind and knowledge for all kinds of things!"

Hordak cannot help but smile at Entrapta. His body filling with a welling pride and happiness. His minds writhing in a kind of joy at her praise.

She will understand. 

He cannot wait for her to understand in full.  
The following silence is heavy. So heavy. Finally though it ends with Mermista pulling her Trident away with a curse as Bow tries to insist they at least think about things. The group leaves, though there is a lingering stare between Hordak and Adora.

When they are gone Hordak looks to Entrapta, only to see her slump to the ground and pull off her mask. Her eyes are red and puffy. She looks upset.

It makes him upset.

"Entrapta..."

"You need all of the princesses." She says. "For the heart to work."

Hordak blinks. His minds churning through that statement. Oh. "That is why you did not release me."

"You need all of them." She nods. "When she found out you were here she came immediately I had to race to get here first and stop her... She wanted to hurt you..."

"You stopped her."

"Yes."

"Even though you believe I need to be cured?"

Entrapta glances over at him. "If she hurts you I can't cure you." She notes. Then turns to stare at nothing again "and I'd rather have infected you then no you. I learned that on beast island..."

Another heavy silence.

"I thought you had betrayed us... Me." Hordak says after a moment.

"I thought the same about you." She notes. 

"I wanted you to see my weapon, on the battlefield." Hordak adds. His mind twisting and pulling him toward honesty. "I thought it would impress you."

Entrapta smiles "it would have."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally the second part arrives.
> 
> Hit me up at Etherian-Affairs on Tumblr.


	3. Together Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak and Entrapta reach an understanding.

Entrapta lets him stay awake after the encounter with Mermista. They need to be able to communicate, as Hordak does indeed need to help the rebellion in order to keep the tenuous nature of his stay in this little base intact. In all honesty he doesn't mind it. Even if he remains shackled and his weapon dampened just being able to talk to Entrapta is nice, to share thoughts and work with her again. All of him scrambles to speak with her, to connect with her.

Though they do have to avoid the topic of his evolution in casual conversation. 

Sometimes she takes the time to study him more, to test his minds and poke at his body. Searching for that cure he does not need. She figures out much of his nature very quickly, and she does come to admit that it has seemed to help his self worth and his confidence in their interactions. The admittance of that amuses them both. 

It is when others come that things are less pleasant. The Mermista woman is especially hostile but the others are abrasive as well. Even Imp, who Entrapta took with her from the Fright Zone, seems wary of Hordak now. It is rather hurtful. It makes most of him feel rather self conscious, put out so to speak. Eventually it even begins to cause a loop of back and forth thought that chews at everything. The quiet wonder if perhaps he is wrong in some way.

He needs to leave these shackles.

but it is not easy. Entrapta has bound him well. She understands what he is, far better than any other. Still even she has made mistakes. Some small and hard to leverage such as a few weaknesses in the restraints on his right arm. Others much more glaring, like her currently leaving him alone after making him promise not to try to escape. She can be so absent minded about strange things like that at times.

Admittedly he actually does not want to break his promise to her but at least the alone time has let him experiment. Tendrils of flesh unravel from the mass, working their way into his restraints through whatever openings they can find. He has attempted this a few times now, learning his bonds. He will have it this time, or he would have if he were not suddenly rudely interrupted.

The mustache man walks in, drawing Hordak's eyes with his over the top existence, and drawing Hordak's ire with his poor sense of fashion and character. The forefront of his personality is annoyed at this arrival. The depths of his writhing minds deduce danger from the guest.

"Well well well! All alone are we?" Sea Hawk speaks "Where pray tell is Princess Entrapta?"

"Away." Hordak speaks calmly. This man is too stupid to notice Hordak picking at his bindings. No need to stop. If anything it is an opportunity to test his subtlety.

"and she left you all alone? Well, how rude of her! Luckily friend you have Sea Hawk to keep you company!" He smiles at Hordak. It's delightfully fake. 

Hordak smiles back. "Indeed I do. In fact why not release me so we can go find more... Friends." Hordak suggests with a sharp grin. There's only a small chance this man is stupid enough to do that but the idea of it actually happening is too painfully amusing to not suggest. Also Hordak feels that it's just creepy enough to be theatrical to suggest. a certain part of him is fond of the theatrics these days. With self awareness comes new found enjoyment. All the little things that he never basked in over the years while he obsessed over his Brother.

"Alas! I cannot do that! Entrapta has informed us all that you are an Active Biohazard!" The pirate declares with flare. "And you have also deeply upset my poor Mermista." He adds with a bit more bite.

Ah, there it is. That is right, Hordak saw this man in the aftermath of Salineas.

The pirate continues. His expression faltering. "She was unconsolable for days! Not even to mention you hurt so many innocent people!"

"Yes. Not to mention them." Hordak interrupts with a bored tone. "All I did was win a war."

"I do not care that you were fighting a war you started!" Sea Hawk points dramatically. "You hurt Mermista and her people! And though she cannot do anything about your presence I, Sea Hawk, shall!"

Hordak has a moment of internal debate. This is less than optimal, but an advantage could be made from this. Provoke the man, but provoke him to do something specific.

Hordak's gaze momentarily shifts to Entrapta's primary workbench. To the crystals she has been experimenting on there.

"Without Entrapta's 'cure'" he makes sure to hiss the word. "There is very little you can do to me."

"I can strike you down villain!" Sea Hawk shouts as he draws his strange energy Cutlass. Who made that? Did he find it? Why is it so advanced and yet also so not advanced. Hordak has a moment of internal arguing at the nature of this Cutlass before pulling his selves back into the moment. Strange weapon debate later. 

"I will simply regenerate. Do not underestimate what I am. What I can do." Hordak grins happily, donning all the confidence in the world as he lies through his teeth.

Another pointed look at the table to punctate...

The pirate seems momentarily unsure. His gaze looks back at Entrapta's table. "Hah. I am sure Princess Entrapta has something to stop that here!" Sea Hawk adds dramatically as he steps over to the table to look at things and hmm.

Hordak's picking at his restraints grows more fervent. Yes. He can feel it. The chance approaching so rapidly. The itch for freedom coursing through every bit of his being. Make the connection you dolt of a pirate. Bring it all together.

"Aha." Sea Hawk grins as he picks up the shiniest and most intact crystal on the table. Looking it over. "I bet this is some sort of first ones... Infection fighting thing!" He turns to Hordak. "Is that right?"

Hordak just growls in response. It's not, it's just a crystal she's decoding and hoping to use.

The pirate nods. "It makes perfect sense. You have an evil Crystal on your chest! And this not evil Crystal will cure you and most importantly make you vulnerable." Sea Hawk approaches now. "My beautiful Mermista will get to see you punished for your villainy." He adds on dramatically.

As Sea Hawk holds the crystal out to touch against Hordak's collar Entrapta's voice rings out. "STOP!" 

Hordak curses and writhes in internal frustration. The timing of it all. He needs to move now. As Sea Hawk turns toward the source of the voice in surprise Hordak's right arm finally breaks free. Ripping out of its confinement and swinging across to tear his left free.

He hears Entrapta scream, and possibly actually swear. She's charging now, he can hear it. Feel it. She's rushing toward him to try and restrain him. As he reaches down to free his legs with his left hand he raises the right. The flesh writhes and reassembles as much of the cannon as it can over his forearm. Good enough. Functional. Then before Hordak fires he mentally screams at himself.

Not her.

Do not target her with that weapon.

New plan, new movement. He reaches out and grabs Sea Hawk, the wriggling tendrils of flesh on his arm reaching out to pull the crystal from his hand as Hordak then throws the pirate into Entrapta's path with the little leverage he has.

Sea Hawk shouts in surprise. The crystal is wrapped in flesh, the virus transmitted. He is transmitted. Another piece, another part. The hunger that gnaws momentarily abated as it becomes More.

Hordak's eyes focus in time to see Entrapta leaping over Sea Hawk and moving toward him. Panic is on her eyes, and a stun baton is in her hair.

"Entrapta!" Hordak shouts with near glee. Let her in close. Let her come to him. Resist her weapon. Don't attack her. Don't hurt her. Entrapta doesn't need to be hurt. Entrapta should never be hurt. She doesn't reply verbally. Maybe she can't. She is only one after all, it can be difficult to really multi-task as one. That is okay. She will be more soon now.

The baton stabs forward, energy arcing across it. Yes good. Hordak swipes his left arm up, catching it with his talons. The surge rocks across him but he's ready this time. He's steeled himself. All of himself. Each him has its task.

Entrapta yelps in surprise when he pulls, yanking her closer. 

Then she gives a sputtering gasp when his right hand slams into her sternum. Cracking it, tearing her open, and pushing the newly infected crystal inside.

It is finally time for Entrapta to understand.

"H-hordak..." She coughs his name. Sputtering it. Blood comes with it. He hit perhaps too hard, damaged her trachea most likely. Probably more. He has caused her pain. Hordak feels momentarily distraught by what he has done, but she will be better. Already he can see the crystal doing what he made it to do. Burrowing into her wound and the skin around it. Spreading and becoming part of her. It will fix her. It will make her more.

"Shh." Hordak replies as she drops the stun baton. He has to catch her, to stop her from collapsing to the floor in shock and pain. "It will be alright." He whispers. "Close your eyes and feel it burrow and course through you Entrapta. You will understand." 

He wants her to be as comfortable as possible. After all he does love her more than any being on Etheria could. Love. The word is almost foreign yet it is so right here. He loves her. So much he loves her. So many times he loves her.

This is what she needed. There is no doubt.

His ears twitch as he hears the pirate scrambling to get up, to get away. The panting, squirming, the sounds of fear. Hordak has to act. If Sea Hawk escapes they will not have enough time. Entrapta must be allowed to rest now. She needs her rest. So with Entrapta held gently in his left arm Hordak raises the right once more. The cannon components assembling.

"You were uncertain. You hesitated. You could have ended it." Hordak taunts as Sea Hawk stands. "I am not uncertain." A single short pulse. No second thoughts, no hesitation, no shying away from the reality of it. The Lance of red energy Pierces through Mans torso, and he collapses to the floor. 

Hordak feels Entrapta gasp and squirm. He turns back to her, worried for her. "Do not worry." He speaks quickly. "Such a creature... His mind so small and senses so dull... Something so barely alive cannot die." He smiles at Entrapta. His infected talons moving to stroke her cheek. "Soon you will look at him and ask 'how could I have been one of these wretched small minded things?' Do not worry."

Entrapta stares up at him wearing a face of horror. It hurts him to see her look at him in such a way, but he knows he has done what is right. So he does not hold it against her. Instead he cradles Entrapta while she gasps and wheezes to breath. Watching her beautiful face even as it twists in fear and pain. He carefully wipes the tears from her cheeks. Change always hurts. It's okay, she'll be okay, soon. So soon.

He can't just hold her though, things need to be done.

He shifts his body more fluidly than he has since he was first activated. Picking his beloved up and carrying her to a chair, sitting her down. "Rest. Let it repair you." He says before moving to deal with the current safety issue in the lab, Sea Hawk. Luckily no one came running in, either this base is empty or large enough that no one heard the shot. This gives time, and deniability if needed. Those things are valuable.

He can't move the body out of here without knowing where he is going and if anyone is here. He cannot use it for raw material simply because he does not have the capability or need at this stage. He will have to hide it in here. Or remove it another way. A high powered shot from his weapon might vaporize the body but the collateral damage... It will have to look like an experiment, a weapons test gone wrong.

He needs Entrapta for that. She is not complete yet.

Temporary solution first then. Hide the body. Easy enough. Move it and stuff it inside a machine, seal it away. They will retrieve and annihilate the body later. This is the optimal course. They will need to do that soon though, lest the scent give them away.

It doesn't even matter. Hordak is too giddy to really care about this. All of him is giddy. Entrapta is going to understand, she's going to be with him forever. There is going to be another like him now. There is going to be More. Every single facet of his existence squirms in delight at these happenings. If Sea Hawk was not dead Hordak would thank the man for making this possible.

It's not difficult to find a place to hide a body in this makeshift lab of Entrapta's. Especially since two thirds of the machinery she has brought in is from the horde and Hordak himself designed all of that. He knows the internals of almost everything here, and luckily some designs have free space in them to make manufacture simpler. The ease of this task means that Hordak can return to Entrapta's side more quickly, where he truly wishes to be.

Luckily she is still in the seat he left her in, it doesn't seem like she has even tried to resist. Even with her injury she could have struggled, but instead she waits. She must understand the beauty of what is happening. The glory of it. Rapid evolution on the scale of the individual. It even makes Hordak excited to think about, and he's already undergone it.

"How do you feel? If you are uncomfortable let me know." Hordak speaks with a smile as he kneels down at her side. Entrapta turns to him, eyes wide. Her breathing seems steadier, the main damage must have been repaired already. The crystal has moved itself to let it's main face turn outward. It is perfectly imbedded in her sternum, and the veins spider out from it in gorgeous asymmetry.

"Hordak." She speaks quietly. "I..." 

His eyes turn back to her face quickly. "Yes?"

"I can't remove it... I'll die if I do." Her voice is shaky. Even now she analyzes the situation, diagnoses it, she brilliant.

"Yes" A pleasant effect of the serious and life threatening injury he accidentally caused her.

Unfortunately tears begin to well in her eyes as she looks away from him. Concern fills Hordak again. Concern, frustration, impatience, a general deep worry.

"I'm scared Hordak." She adds. "I can feel it in me…"

"Do not be scared Entrapta." Hordak reassures, reaching out to wipe away her tears. "Bask in this. In the glory of it, in how singular this moment is. Think of what is happening Entrapta. What I have done. A strain of this... Evolutionary infection. Previously only able to infect First Ones technology. Using the technology we created together it has become able to integrate itself with you Entrapta. With non First Ones biology." He is giddy. Excited. She should be too. He will make her.

Then he watches Entrapta's eyes widen, as her mind processes this. As she begins to understand. As the crystal flesh begins to wrap around her nervous system. "I don't have any First Ones tech in me..." 

"No. You do not."

"And it's... Repairing me, fusing with me." She looks down now.

"You made this strain Entrapta." Hordak smiles at her. "Through this armor, through me, you facilitated its creation. You have made something... Wonderful."

Entrapta looks back up at him, a smile tugs at her. Then she lets out a weak but continuous laugh, manic. "I've been trying to merge First Ones and modern tech seamlessly for years." Her laugh continues, weak, almost desperate. "And I did it."

Hordak grins wide, gesturing around them and to himself. "You see Entrapta? There is no need to feel worried. We are the culmination of your life's work!" Hordak can feel it, the crystal touching Entrapta's spinal column, it's rushing itself there, wanting to be her, facilitating a new periphery sharing of sense. Soon it will integrate. Soon they will be together forever, as one, as many, as More than they could be apart.

Entrapta laughs some more, then she looks at Hordak, tears still in her eyes. Her manic acceptance of the situation mixing with her fear and hurt. "Let's get weird then?" She manages to almost joke.

Hordak smiles and nods, and moves watch over the room and also explore it. All this time and he's barely gotten to see this place. As he moves about her feels it more. The tingle of Entrapta's nervous system. Electrical impulses grazing the periphery of his multi-faceted consciousness. Not like him, different and distant, but there and comforting.

Eventually Entrapta picks herself up in her chair, sitting up carefully. Hordak immediately finds himself at her side. She's quiet for a moment as her fingers feel the red crystal in her chest. Her shirt will definitely need a replacement. "This is fascinating." She admits. "I can feel... It's thinking with me." She says. "No it... It is me! We're... I'm... I can think like it does."

Hordak nods. "Yes! You're something beyond Etherian." Excitement fills him, different from the reserved and wary mindset he once carried. "Look further, feel out beyond yourself."

Hordak had the benefit of a slow mutual evolution. He has been at the forefront of his own development. Entrapta is being dragged up quickly and will need guidance to know all the ways she can think now, all the ways she can feel. Eventually though, Hordak knows, her brilliant mind will be the one teaching him. The princess concentrates for a moment.

Then she looks up at Hordak with sparkling eyes and an amazed smile. "Is that you?" She asks.

Hordak nods. He can feel her nascent consciousness in their new interlink. Small and learning to move but there. "Yes. Do you see now? Do you understand?"

Entrapta nods. "I think I do." Finally she lifts herself up on her hair. "I didn't even consider this... This existence. It's exhilarating." 

Hordak can feel it, her internal squeel of fascination. Her excitement to be part of herself. So quickly she knows what she is. So quickly her curiosity and brilliance intermingle with the infections adjustments of her temperament. With him it fed on conquest, for her it feeds on curiosity.

Hordak reaches a quick consensus. He moves with confidence he could never have had before, and pulls Entrapta toward him to kiss her. For a beautiful moment they embrace. Entrapta returning the affection. 

Hordak loves this woman. He loves all she'll become.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come yell at me for killing Sea Hawk on Tumblr at Etherian-Affairs


End file.
